JOHOR BARU, June 13 —  Coach Miodrag Radulovic admitted the match between his Lebanese team and Malaysia today will be a tough one as our national team are progressing well with the touch of Nelo Vingada.

The 49-year-old said the biggest advantage for Harimau Malaya was playing at Larkin Stadium with most of Harimau Malaya’s key players are from Johor Darul Ta’zim.

"Vingada indeed is new to the team but he has help from the local coach (Tan Cheng Hoe) to lead,” said Radulovic.

"There are retired players making a comeback to Malaysia’s team ... there’s a lot of JDT players in the squad.

"Larkin is their home turf and definitely they know each other well plus the stadium will be full ... this is a tough game for us.”

Asked about what advantages his team had over Harimau Malaya, Radulovic said Mootaz Jounaidi who was dropped by Felda United and Abou Bakr Al Mel who plays for Kelantan had helped him with intel.

"I got a lot of information about Malaysian football and I keep following the squad,” said Radulovic

"Mootaz and Abou Bakr helped me a lot with information.

"However in away matches, I respect  opponents and I believe Vingada also surely knows our team too.”

With the Malaysians not having qualified for the Asian Cup since 1980 — the country appeared in the 2007 finals as co-hosts — the odds are stacked against Harimau Malaya in their attempt to qualify to the 2019 Asian Cup in UAE.

With the opening game against North Korea postponed, Malaysia’s meeting with Lebanon at Larkin Stadium will be the country’s first match of the qualifying campaign.

It will also be Vingada’s first game in charge of Harimau Malaya. He was appointed on May 25 and had just two weeks to prepare.Likewise Lebanon got their campaign off to a flying start in March with a comfortable 2-0 win over Hong Kong in Beirut.

Radulovi said, it’s not normal for AFC to postponed international matches twice.

"They need to play the first game actually at a neutral venue but why postpone it?,” he asked.

However, Radulovic’s concern is for his team to continue deliver good results like they achieved against Hong Kong.

He also said Mohamad Ghaddar who now plays for JDT rejected a call up for this game.

"Ghaddar is the one who did not want to represent his country so his story is over,” he said, declining to elaborate further.